Short and Fun Courses to Get You Up to Speed About Generative AI

Short Generative AI Courses
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If you’re not a tech professional per se or you want to get into the tech industry, you have probably heard a lot about Generative AI. Everybody is speaking about it, organisations are trying to get a piece of it, there’s a lot of money in it.

But what is it and where can I learn about it?

Luckily, you have landed on the right page.

In this article, I will go through short and fun courses to get you up to speed about Generative AI.

Generative AI Concepts

Link: DataCamps Generative AI Concepts

Your first step to understanding Generative AI, its basic concepts and its impact on today's society. Generative AI is a type of AI model that can create new content, such as ChatGPT, as well as perform other tasks. In this beginner-friendly Generative AI course, you will learn about how this new emerging technology is shaping our future. Learn about how Generative AI works, the ethical considerations, and how you can utilize these tools to the max!

Generative AI for Everyone

Link: DeepLearning.AI Generative AI for Everyone

In just 5 hours, you can learn what Generative AI is and how it works, its common use cases, and what this technology can and cannot do. You will also dive into how to think through the lifecycle of a generative AI project, from conception to launch, including how to build effective prompts. Also learn about the potential opportunities and risks that generative AI technologies present to individuals, businesses, and society.

Generative AI in Marketing Specialization

Link: Generative AI in Marketing Specialization

Maybe you’re a marketer and you’re wondering how you can utilise Generative AI in your day-to-day work tasks as well as improve your workflow and hit your targets.

In 1 month, you can learn about the fundamentals of Generative AI to practice creating logos, marketing content, and services. You will also learn how to review and deploy a chatbot for marketing and customer service as well as be able to implement an AI Marketing strategy to navigate the various strategic internal and external considerations.

Generative AI for Executives and Business Leaders

Link: Generative AI for Executives and Business Leaders

Are you a manager, business executive, or leader in your industry and you want to learn more about generative AI? I assume yes as you want to remain competitive in the market.

In this course, you will understand the history and impact of generative AI for business, the importance of your data in relation to business AI as well as the importance of trust, transparency and governance. With what you will learn, you can then apply generative AI to key use cases like customer service and application modernisation.

Wrapping Up

Generative AI does not only mean that tech professionals can make use of it. It is a big part of the tech industry that is shaping all other industries and our future. Learning about it and how you can implement it into your strategy will allow you to keep ahead of the game!

Nisha Arya is a data scientist, freelance technical writer, and an editor and community manager for KDnuggets. She is particularly interested in providing data science career advice or tutorials and theory-based knowledge around data science. Nisha covers a wide range of topics and wishes to explore the different ways artificial intelligence can benefit the longevity of human life. A keen learner, Nisha seeks to broaden her tech knowledge and writing skills, while helping guide others.

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OpenAI Releases Generative AI Search Experience on ChatGPT

Soon, ChatGPT (Powered by GPT-4o) will Replace Your ‘Senior Employees’

Amid scepticism, OpenAI has finally released the generative AI search experience on ChatGPT, powered by GPT-4o. This development comes just days after the company unveiled GPT-4o at its latest Spring Update event.

Below is a glimpse.

AIM recently asked a question on ChatGPT about ‘India’s AI ecosystem’, and ChatGPT cited AIM’s article in its response.

A few days ago OpenAI hired Shivakumar Venkataraman, a 21-year veteran of Google, as its new vice president. Venkataraman’s extensive experience in search advertising at Google makes him a valuable asset for OpenAI as it plans to build ‘Google Search Alternative’.

OpenAI recently partnered with Reddit as well to bring enhanced Reddit content to ChatGPT and new products, helping users discover and engage with Reddit communities.

Moreover, in a recent podcast with Lex Fridman, OpenAI chief Sam Altman said that, “The intersection of LLMs plus search, I don’t think anyone has cracked the code on yet. I would love to go do that. I think that would be cool.”

He also said that OpenAI does not want to build another Google Search. “I find that (Google Search) boring. I mean, if the question is if we can build a better search engine than Google or whatever, then sure, we should.

“Google shows you like 10 blue links, like 13 ads, and then 10 blue links, and that’s like one way to find information. But the thing that’s exciting to me is not that we can go build a better copy of Google Search, but that maybe there’s just a much better way to help people find, act on, and synthesise information,” said Altman.

Meanwhile, Google recently introduced ‘AI Overviews’ at Google I/O 2024. This feature generates summaries for the user’s queries.

“Sometimes you want a quick answer, but you don’t have time to piece together all the information you need. Search will do the work for you with AI Overviews,” said Google Search VP Liz Reid.

Google Search is powered by the Gemini model customised for Google Search. It combines Gemini’s advanced capabilities — including multi-step reasoning, planning, and multimodality — with best-in-class Search systems.

Perplexity is also upping its game. Against the backdrop of these developments, Perplexity onboarded three industry leaders as new advisors to boost search, mobile and distribution: Emil Michael (ex-Uber), Rich Miner (Android co-founder), and Mikhail Parakhin (ex-Bing CEO).

The post OpenAI Releases Generative AI Search Experience on ChatGPT appeared first on AIM.

After Stack Overflow, Reddit Succumbs to OpenAI

Today, OpenAI partnered with Reddit to integrate rich community content into ChatGPT and other products.

With this, OpenAI will get access to a vast repository of community discussions through Reddit’s Data API, enabling OpenAI to enhance ChatGPT and its other products with a more diverse and up-to-date range of human conversations, thereby improving AI understanding and user interaction.

On the other hand, Reddit will leverage OpenAI products to introduce new features for users and moderators, expanding engagement and community functionality.

“We are thrilled to partner with Reddit to enhance ChatGPT with uniquely timely and relevant information and to explore the possibilities to enrich the Reddit experience with AI-powered features,” said Brad Lightcap, OpenAI COO, in a blog post.

“Reddit has become one of the internet’s largest open archives of authentic, relevant, and always up to date human conversations about anything and everything. Including it in ChatGPT upholds our belief in a connected internet, helps people find more of what they’re looking for, and helps new audiences find community on Reddit,” said Steve Huffman, Reddit co-founder and CEO.

“Sam Altman is a shareholder in Reddit. This partnership was led by OpenAI’s COO and approved by its independent Board of Directors,” mentions the blog in italics.

Interestingly, OpenAI also said that it would become a Reddit advertising partner. The company is definitely building something bigger than search, giving tough competition to Google and Perplexity.

A few days back, OpenAI hired Shivakumar Venkataraman, a 21-year Google veteran who previously led the company’s search ads business, as its new vice president. Venkataraman’s extensive experience in search advertising at Google makes him a valuable asset for OpenAI as it plans to build ‘Google Search Alternative’.

Reactions So Far…

Users are already pouring in mixed reactions to this development.

It would also be interesting to see how the Reddit community is going to react in the coming days, or probably weeks, similar to what we witnessed after the Stack Overflow partnership with OpenAI, as Reddit is a great platform for a lot of users to digest news and information in real-time than most social media today.

Some believe that X (formerly Twitter) is the next best option. Elon Musk said that Grok will soon offer a humorous take on the news in the spirit of how ‘The Daily Show’ and ‘Colbert Report’ used to be in ancient times.

Google is Here to Stay

Google recently introduced ‘AI Overviews’ at Google I/O 2024. This feature generates summaries for the user’s queries.

“Sometimes you want a quick answer, but you don’t have time to piece together all the information you need. Search will do the work for you with AI Overviews,” said Liz Reid VP of Google Search.

Google Search is Powered by the Gemini model customised for Google Search, it combines Gemini’s advanced capabilities — including multi-step reasoning, planning, and multimodality — with best-in-class Search systems.

Perplexity is also upping its game. Against the backdrop of these developments, Perplexity onboarded three industry leaders as new advisors to boost search, mobile and distribution: Emil Michael (ex-Uber), Rich Miner (Android co-founder), and Mikhail Parakhin (ex-Bing CEO).

The post After Stack Overflow, Reddit Succumbs to OpenAI appeared first on AIM.

10 Free Courses to Build AI Agents in 2024

A new era of autonomous AI agents has begun. The latest developments from Google I/O 2024 and OpenAI’s Spring Update confirm that all major companies are bullish on agents and that the future of AI will be ‘agentic’.

“Honestly, the path to AGI feels like a journey rather than a destination, but I think agent workflows could help us take a small step forward on this very long journey,” said Andrew Ng.

AI Agents will be ubiquitous, and the best part is that you can build them too!

Here are the top 10 free courses to help you build next-gen consumer and enterprise agent workflows that can enhance your productivity and help you solve complex problems.

Multi AI Agent Systems with crewAI

Recently, Andrew Ng unveiled this agentic short course, ‘Multi AI Agent Systems with crewAI’.

Available on DeepLearning.AI and built in collaboration with crewAI’s founder and CEO João Moura, it will teach you how to break down complex tasks into subtasks for specialised AI agents. Alongside this, it helps in discovering how to define roles, set expectations, and manage interactions among multiple AI agents.

The course also touches upon key agentic AI techniques like role-playing, tool use, memory, guardrails, and cross-agent collaboration. It also helps you build and manage your own multi-agent systems to tackle complex tasks effectively.

By the end of the course, you will also be equipped to design and deploy multi-agent architectures, driving significant progress in AI systems.

New agentic short course! Multi AI Agent Systems with crewAI, built with @crewAIInc's founder and CEO @joaomdmoura. In this course, you'll learn how to break down complex tasks into subtasks for multiple AI agents, each playing a specialized role, to execute.
For example, to… pic.twitter.com/qooJb8OSTm

— Andrew Ng (@AndrewYNg) May 15, 2024

Building RAG Agents with LLMs

This course by NVIDIA is perfect for developers looking to create advanced AI agents.

In this free course, you’ll learn to deploy scalable agent systems powered by LLMs and discover how LLMs excel in tool use, document interaction, and strategic planning.

You’ll also implement and evaluate RAG agents for answering research paper queries. Key topics include LLM inference interfaces, pipeline design with LangChain, Gradio, LangServe, dialogue management, and vector stores for RAG agents. By the end, you’ll have the tools to develop advanced LLM applications.

9. Building RAG Agents with LLMs:
Learn about scalable deployment, LangChain paradigms, and advanced models for production.https://t.co/t3OBg7JUm9 pic.twitter.com/5UUixiSTZO

— Rishabh (@Rixhabh__) April 16, 2024

Build Agents with GPT-4o From Scratch

Learn how to build agents for multiple uses, including web search, finance, Hacker News, data analysis, and research with GPT-4o from scratch in just 11 minutes.

Agents with gpt-4o from scratch 🔥 in 11 minutes we'll build:
🌎 Web Search Agent (2:40)
📈 Finance Agent (3:30)
🫡 Hackernews Agent (5:50)
📊 Data Analysis Agent (8:10)
🗒 Research Agent (9:35)
code: https://t.co/jqILvru0ws pic.twitter.com/T3Hxxkd33n

— Ashpreet Bedi (@ashpreetbedi) May 15, 2024

Build AI Agents Smarter Than ChatGPT

The video delves into the concept of building AI agents that surpass current models like ChatGPT in functionality, focusing on their potential to complete extensive tasks quickly and autonomously.

It introduces Agency Swarm, a new framework designed for real-world business applications. It’s unique for its customisation capabilities and ease of use when building smarter AI agents.

It includes step-by-step instructions, and even those without programming skills can watch the course to learn how to adopt AI technology to stay ahead in a rapidly evolving field.

The Right Way to Build AI Agents With crewAI

This video delves into the best practices for building AI agents with crewAI, focusing on a fully local setup. It starts with an overview of crewAI’s capabilities and its approach to creating intelligent agents.

You’ll learn how to set up a local environment, define agent roles, and manage interactions between agents for various tasks. The tutorial includes practical coding demonstrations, showcasing how to implement these agents for diverse tasks. By the end, you’ll be equipped to develop efficient, scalable AI agents using crewAI’s platform, all while keeping your setup entirely local.

Create AI Agents From Scratch With Python

This video will teach you how to create AI agents from scratch using Python. It covers the fundamentals of building intelligent agents capable of decision-making and learning. You’ll learn about the key components of AI agents, including perception, action, and decision-making processes.

The tutorial then dives into coding examples, demonstrating how to implement various AI algorithms for searching, reinforcement learning, and decision trees. By the end, you’ll be equipped with the knowledge to build and deploy your own intelligent agents for a variety of applications.

Building Agentic RAG with LlamaIndex

Taught by Jerry Liu, CEO of LlamaIndex, this course ‘Building Agentic RAG with LlamaIndex’, is available on DeepLearning.AI. It will teach you to build a RAG agent with tool access for autonomous information retrieval, enabling it to answer complex questions using multi-step reasoning.

It will cover key aspects such as tool use, multi-step reasoning with tool use, and routing, where your agent will use decision-making to route requests to multiple tools. Additionally, you’ll also learn to debug and iteratively improve your agent.

I’m excited to kick off the first of our short courses focused on agents, starting with Building Agentic RAG with LlamaIndex, taught by @jerryjliu0, CEO of @llama_index.
This covers an important shift in RAG (retrieval augmented generation), in which rather than having the… pic.twitter.com/KwRvDEhENS

— Andrew Ng (@AndrewYNg) May 8, 2024

CampusX: Building AI Agents

In this course, you’ll learn how to create advanced AI agents using tools like crewAI, AutoGen, LangGraph, and AutoGPT. This course dives into AI development, teaching you to build intelligent agents capable of performing complex tasks and enhancing automation processes.

Key highlights include utilising these technologies for AI agent development, creating agents with advanced capabilities, and optimising their performance. You’ll explore how to implement AI agents to improve automation across various industries and discover techniques to optimise their performance, ensuring they operate efficiently and effectively.

https://learnwith.campusx.in/courses/Building-AI-Agents-663d25be012c994c18513e70

Functions, Tools, and Agents with LangChain

This short course is presented in collaboration with LangChain and is available on DeepLearning.AI. It is taught by LangChain CEO Harrison Chase.

This course explores the capabilities of LLMs to call functions essential for managing structured data and form a foundation for LLM-based agents.

You’ll utilise LangChain’s expression language to develop applications that handle tagging, expression extraction, tool selection, and routing. Additionally, you’ll create a conversational agent showcasing all these features.

Can't get enough agents? Check out the short course Functions, Tools, and Agents, taught by @LangChainAI CEO @hwchase17! 🦜🔗
This course covers the capabilities in LLMs to call functions, useful for handling structured data and a key building block for LLM-based agents.
You… pic.twitter.com/IyosgxfJFw

— DeepLearning.AI (@DeepLearningAI) May 10, 2024

The Complete Guide to Building AI Agents for Beginners

In this video, you’ll learn how to develop custom AI agent systems for companies of all sizes, from small firms to large corporations.

By the end of this video, users will be able to build their own fully functional social media marketing agency that will generate ad copy, create ad images with DALL-E 3, and reliably post them on Facebook.

The post 10 Free Courses to Build AI Agents in 2024 appeared first on AIM.

Kunal Shah Says ‘GPT Makes Him 10x More Efficient in Sharing Ideas with the Team’

Kunal Shah Says ‘GPT Makes Him 10x More Efficient in Sharing Ideas with the Team’

Kunal Shah, the founder & CEO of Cred, recently posted on X of his article on a news publication about how AI is brewing a revolution, like the steam engine and the internet did. He shared how ChatGPT is a constant companion for him.

Talking about how AI is also helping radiologists for accelerating speed and accuracy in healthcare, Shah said that AI is solving a lot of problems. He also mentioned from his experience when he was running a teleradiology project in India and how scaling analysis was a constraint. “AI can potentially do this within seconds,” he added.

Also touching about skilling everyone with AI, Shah gives an example of how companies in the Bay Area are testing AI and GPT skills in prospective employees. “They give assignments to candidates that need to be completed in 24 hours and would be humanly impossible to do unless GPT was used to assist them,” he explained.

One of the things that he focused on was expressive AI. To better explain visual ideas to his team, Shah uses AI to mock up and draw designs and express them better to his team, while being 10x more efficient.

“I am excited about the revolution that 1.5 Bn people assisted by AI can speak,” Shah added, saying that the gap between talent and opportunity will eventually evaporate. “When AI is available to augment everyone’s thinking, asymmetric outcomes will go to those who execute well – doers and creators who bend reality to make the world a better place.”

The post Kunal Shah Says ‘GPT Makes Him 10x More Efficient in Sharing Ideas with the Team’ appeared first on AIM.

Why Ollama is Good for Running LLMs on Computer

Why Ollama is Good for Running LLMs on Computer

Recently, AIM reviewed the best tools to run large language models (LLMs) locally on a computer, and Ollama stood out as the most efficient solution, offering unmatched flexibility. Ollama, an open-source tool developed by Jeffrey Morgan, is revolutionising how enthusiasts run LLMs on their local terminals.

With its user-friendly interface and compatibility with popular models like LLaMA 2 and Mistral, Ollama can easily be considered by those who wish to experiment with LLMs securely, cost-effectively, and efficiently. It enables users to harness the power of advanced AI models without relying on cloud services or expensive hardware.

AIM tested Ollama by running multiple LLMs across multiple operating systems, including Linux (Pop!_OS), macOS, and Windows, to give readers a comprehensive overview of this utility.

Ollama: A Blazing-fast Tool to Run LLMs Locally

Use Ollama to run LLMs locally

While it stood out as the fastest solution to run LLMs locally on a terminal, if you are not comfortable with that, there’s also a provision of GUI, but it requires some additional steps (that most basic users would want to avoid).

Ollama has access to a wide range of LLMs directly available from their library, which can be downloaded using a single command. Once downloaded, you can start using it through a single command execution. This can be quite helpful for users whose workload revolves around a terminal window. If they are stuck somewhere, they can get an answer without switching to another browser window.

While using Ollama on Linux, we found a rather surprising approach taken by its developers. When you execute the installation script, it takes care of all the GPU drivers by itself, with no extra steps required.

On the other hand, we found macOS’s installer to be the most refined among the three platforms, as it was pretty easy to navigate and use. Sure, you eventually have to switch to the terminal, but the way it takes you to the terminal was smooth.

However, if you wish to use Ollama with a GUI, you can use Open Web UI. But it can only be installed through a Docker container, which can be troublesome for users not familiar with the concept of containerisation.

Ollama running LLM locally on Linux

AIM noted that Ollama’s only downside was that it did not provide official documentation on how to use the already downloaded LLMs.

Model Matters the Most

Most certainly, using a minimal utility like Ollama to run LLMs locally can give you a little edge over other tools, but in the end, what model you are using matters the most.

For example, we used Llama 2 and Llama 3 side by side on Ollama, and we were surprised with the results.

Comparing llama2 vs llama3 in Ollama
Running llama2 and llama3 in Ollama

As you can see, Llama 2 started answering our question within a few seconds, whereas LLaMA 3 took long but gave compelling and detailed answers to the given criteria. We tested LLaMA 2 on multiple utilities, but Ollama + terminal gave the fastest results, which is why we concluded that Ollama is the fastest when used in the terminal.

Also, if you try loading a very large model beyond what your specs can handle, like any other tool, Ollama will not be able to load the given model. And the sad part is it does not even inform you that Ollama has stopped loading the model.

The only way to tackle this problem is to keep an eye on system resources. When you see a sudden drop in resource consumption, it indicates Ollama has failed to load the model, and you can stop the entire process (or else it will show the loading animation endlessly).

Ollama can not report problem while loading a LLM

All in all, we found Ollama flexible and fast. It lets you use GUI if you want to and gives you blazing-fast responses when used in a terminal, making it a win-win situation. However, if you want to use something simple, we’ll soon introduce you to Jan, a tool that lets you run LLMs locally with the least effort possible.

The post Why Ollama is Good for Running LLMs on Computer appeared first on AIM.

ChatGPT Brings Data to Life With Interactive Charts and Tables Directly from Google Drive and Microsoft OneDrive

OpenAI is rolling out significant improvements to data analysis in ChatGPT, making the tool more robust and user-friendly for ChatGPT Plus, Team, and Enterprise users. The new features, available in the flagship model GPT-4o, allow users to interact with tables and charts and add files directly from Google Drive and Microsoft OneDrive.

Users can now upload files directly from Google Drive and Microsoft OneDrive, eliminating the need to download files to their desktop before uploading them to ChatGPT. This feature allows ChatGPT to quickly understand Google Sheets, Docs, Slides, and Microsoft Excel, Word, and PowerPoint files.

Interactive tables allow users to expand and explore data in real-time, with the ability to ask follow-up questions and receive suggested prompts to deepen their analysis. For example, users can ask ChatGPT to combine spreadsheets of monthly expenses and create a pivot table categorized by expense type.

Customisable charts enable users to interact with various chart types, including bar, line, pie, and scatter plots. Users can hover over chart elements, ask additional questions, and select colors before downloading the charts for presentations or documents.

For instance, users can select a Google Sheet with their company’s latest user data directly from Google Drive and ask ChatGPT to create a chart showing retention rates by cohort.

These updates build on ChatGPT’s existing ability to understand and analyze datasets through natural language. Users can upload data files and have ChatGPT write and run Python code to perform tasks like merging datasets, creating charts, and uncovering insights. This capability makes it easier for beginners to conduct in-depth analyses and saves experts time on routine tasks.

David Vaughn, VP at The Carlyle Group, highlights the tool’s impact, stating, “ChatGPT is part of my toolkit for analyzing customer data, which has become too large and complex for Excel. It helps me sift through massive datasets, allowing me to conduct more data exploration on my own and reduce the time it takes to reach valuable insights.”

OpenAI emphasizes comprehensive security and privacy in these updates. ChatGPT does not train on data from Team and Enterprise customers, and Plus users can opt out of training through Data Controls. OpenAI’s privacy and security policies include SAML SSO, compliance, and data encryption for ChatGPT Enterprise.

Lauren Nowak, Marketing Manager at Afterpay, praised the new features, saying, “ChatGPT walks me through data analysis and helps me better understand insights. It makes my job more fulfilling, helps me learn, and frees up my time to focus on more strategic parts of my job.”

Similarly, Google also announced new features of Gemini at Google I/O 2024. Gemini not only analyzes the data from the sheet but also creates a nice visual to help users see the complete breakdown by category. This extends to various use cases in your inbox, like travel expenses, shopping, and remodeling projects.

All of that information in Gmail can be put to good use, helping you work, plan, and play better. This ability to organize your attachments in Drive, generate a sheet, and do data analysis via Q&A will be rolling out to Labs users this September.

The post ChatGPT Brings Data to Life With Interactive Charts and Tables Directly from Google Drive and Microsoft OneDrive appeared first on AIM.

Bengaluru is the San Francisco of the East

Bengaluru-is-the-San-Francisco-of-the-East.

We’ve all heard about the vibrant AI scene in San Francisco, the Bay Area energy, and the coffee shops in Alamo Square where discussions about OpenAI and Midjourney thrive. In Fast Company’s weekly LinkedIn newsletter, an author mentions a café renowned as the pitchers’ hub where young AI entrepreneurs pitch to venture capitalists.

Something similar is happening back home. Software engineer Hardeep Gambhir stepped into a cafe in Bengaluru and couldn’t help but draw parallels. The vibe in the cafe immediately teleported him to San Francisco.

walked into a cafe in Bangalore today and this is what I saw different people doing:
1. a dude watching Karpathy's lectures.
2. 4 uncles talking about software + hardware + marketing.
3. a girl reading Albert Camus and her (assumingly) boyfriend showing her the thinnest iPad…

— Hardeep (@hardeep_gambhir) May 12, 2024

So, could Bengaluru and San Francisco become AI neighbors?

Bengaluru among the World’s Tech Cities

According to Henley & Partners, Bengaluru is one of the world’s wealthiest cities in the 2024 list with its millionaire population more than doubling in the past decade. The city’s thriving tech sector attracts substantial wealth, propelling it into the top 10 wealthiest cities globally.

Bengaluru is now home to over 13,200 high-net-worth individuals, each with investable assets exceeding $1 million.

While New York leads the world with nearly 350,000 millionaires, the Bay Area, comprising cities like San Jose, San Francisco, and Palo Alto, has emerged as the second wealthiest region worldwide, boasting over 305,700 millionaires.

While cities like San Francisco, New York, Beijing, and Shanghai lead the global startup ecosystem, Bengaluru, often dubbed as India’s Silicon Valley, ranks 33rd among global startup hubs according to PitchBook’s October 2023 survey.

Recent statistics highlight Bengaluru’s burgeoning startup landscape, boasting over 10,000 startups valued at approximately $50 billion. These figures underscore the city’s entrepreneurial vigor and its ability to foster an environment conducive to startup growth.

What sets Bengaluru apart is not only its impressive line-up of startups but also its substantial venture capital funding. In 2020, Bengaluru attracted over $10 billion in venture capital investments, surpassing leading hubs like San Francisco and London.

This influx of funding has enabled startups in Bengaluru to scale rapidly and penetrate new markets more efficiently.

What do the Leaders Think of India and Development?

As the innovation in tech progresses, India is garnering attention from prominent figures worldwide. Elon Musk‘s Tesla is actively exploring potential locations for an electric vehicle (EV) manufacturing unit in India, with Gujarat and Maharashtra emerging as top contenders.

Tech giant leaders like Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, echo optimism about the country’s trajectory.

Nandan Nilekani, the Aadhaar architect and cofounder-cum-chairman of Infosys, emphasised India’s unique approach to AI, and said, “We are not in the arms race to build the next LLM. Let people with capital, let people who want to pedal ships do all that stuff… We are here to make a difference and our aim is to put this technology in the hands of people, prioritising accessibility and empowerment over the competition.”

Google CEO Sundar Pichai underscores the tech giant’s commitment to India, by collaborating with the government to compile and open-source speech data for nearly 800 dialects.

Additionally, the Google Research team in Bengaluru is developing a unified model capable of processing over 100 diverse Indian languages. These perspectives from global leaders affirm India’s significance in the evolving landscape of artificial intelligence and technology.

What’s in for AI and Bengaluru?

Bengaluru has now become a focal point for discussions on AI, often accompanied by the city’s famous dosa or a refreshing beer. The city is witnessing a surge in AI startups, each pioneering in distinct domains.

The emergence of companies like Sarvam AI, focused on creating advanced AI models, reflects Bengaluru’s commitment to technological innovation.

Krutrim AI, spearheaded by Ola’s founder Bhavish Aggarwal, has raised $50 million in funding at a $1 billion valuation and is now India’s first AI startup to reach unicorn status.

Innovation in AI isn’t limited to corporate giants. Startups like KOGO OS are disrupting markets with their AI operating systems, offering modular AI assistants tailored for diverse industries.

Meanwhile, Karya AI is pioneering in the rural employment sector, leveraging AI to create job opportunities through tasks in local languages, with notable partnerships with tech giants like Microsoft and Google.

These home-grown initiatives highlight Bengaluru’s reputation as the hotbed for AI innovation, promising transformative impacts across various sectors. However, the city’s embrace of AI extends beyond the corporate realm, diving into everyday life experiences.

For instance, a Bengaluru woman recently shared her experience of being impressed by a date who may have used AI during their conversations online. But she later realised he was a rather ‘dull man’ in person.

Now talking about Bengaluru’s traffic woes that stand out like a sore thumb marring the entire experience, Google recently collaborated with the Bengaluru Traffic Police to reduce congestion. Features like Street View were introduced to offer real-time updates and alternative routes for faster commutes.

Last year, the tech giant also partnered with BMTC to optimise routes and schedules available to commuters using mobile phones.

As AI continues to permeate the various facets of Bengaluru’s society and economy, maybe AI journalists and AI company heads will soon hold brainstorming sessions at let’s say, the Rameshwaram cafe, just like it happens in SF. Who knows?

The post Bengaluru is the San Francisco of the East appeared first on AIM.

Reddit Partners with OpenAI to Bring AI-Powered Features

In a significant move that could reshape the user experience on one of the internet's most vibrant platforms, Reddit has announced a multi-faceted partnership with OpenAI. The deal, which comes on the heels of Reddit's successful IPO, aims to leverage OpenAI's cutting-edge language models and AI capabilities to introduce new features for Redditors and moderators alike.

At the heart of the collaboration is a unique arrangement that grants OpenAI access to Reddit's real-time data API. This will allow OpenAI to surface relevant Reddit content within its wildly popular ChatGPT interface and upcoming products, providing users with timely insights drawn from the countless conversations happening across the platform's diverse communities. By integrating Reddit's ever-evolving treasure trove of user-generated content, OpenAI seeks to enhance its AI tools' ability to understand and engage with current topics and trends.

For Reddit, the partnership opens up exciting possibilities to enhance the platform with AI-powered features. While specifics have not yet been disclosed, the company has expressed its intention to build upon OpenAI's robust AI model infrastructure to bring new capabilities to life. This could potentially include advanced content recommendation systems, improved moderation tools, or even AI-assisted content creation features that empower Redditors to engage with the platform in entirely new ways.

Interestingly, the deal also positions OpenAI as an advertising partner on Reddit. Though details remain scarce, this aspect of the collaboration suggests a deeper alignment of interests between the two companies that goes beyond just technological integration. As Reddit continues to grow its ad business following its successful public listing, having OpenAI on board could unlock innovative new ad formats or targeting capabilities.

“We are thrilled to partner with Reddit to enhance ChatGPT with uniquely timely and relevant information, and to explore the possibilities to enrich the Reddit experience with AI-powered features.” – Brad Lightcap, OpenAI COO

Similarities and Differences to Reddit's Google Partnership

OpenAI's partnership with Reddit bears similarities to the platform's $60 million deal with Google earlier this year, which also centered around access to Reddit's data. However, a key difference lies in the absence of explicit language about using Reddit data to train OpenAI's models, whereas the Google agreement specifically mentioned providing “more efficient ways to train models.” The omission of training data from the announcement raises questions about the exact nature of OpenAI's planned use of Reddit's API.

While both deals involve granting access to Reddit's vast trove of user-generated content, the specific applications and intended outcomes may differ. Google's partnership seemed more focused on enhancing its own model training capabilities, while OpenAI's collaboration appears to be geared towards integrating Reddit content into its existing products and co-developing new features for the platform itself.

Potential Backlash from the Reddit Community

Reddit's vibrant and often vocal user base will likely react to the news of the OpenAI partnership. In the past, Redditors have been quick to voice their concerns and stage protests when they felt the platform's direction was not aligned with their interests.

The June 2023 blackout, which saw over 7,000 subreddits go dark in response to controversial API pricing changes, serves as a stark reminder of the community's power. The incident underscores the delicate balance Reddit must strike between pursuing business opportunities and maintaining the trust and goodwill of its users.

While the promise of AI-powered features may excite some, others may worry about the implications for privacy and data usage. Reddit will need to be proactive and transparent in communicating the details of the partnership, addressing user concerns, and demonstrating a commitment to protecting user data and preserving the platform's core values.

Ultimately, the success of the Reddit-OpenAI collaboration may hinge on the companies' ability to navigate the complex dynamics of the Reddit community and deliver tangible benefits to users without compromising their trust. As the partnership unfolds, it will be crucial for Reddit to maintain an open dialogue with its user base and be responsive to their feedback and concerns.

The Future of Online Communities Like Reddit

The Reddit-OpenAI partnership marks a pivotal moment in the platform's evolution, presenting both exciting opportunities and daunting challenges. As Reddit ventures into the uncharted waters of AI-powered community building, the success of this endeavor will largely depend on its ability to navigate the complex landscape of user trust, data privacy, and community expectations. By fostering open communication, prioritizing transparency, and demonstrating a genuine commitment to its users, Reddit can work to build consensus and excitement around the integration of AI technologies. As the partnership unfolds and new AI-powered features take shape, the internet will be watching closely to see if Reddit can strike the right balance between innovation and preservation of its core identity, emerging stronger, smarter, and more connected than ever before.

After Stack Overflow, OpenAI Partners with Reddit 

Today, OpenAI partnered with Reddit to integrate rich community content into ChatGPT and other products.

With this, OpenAI will get access to a vast repository of community discussions through Reddit’s Data API, enabling OpenAI to enhance ChatGPT and its other products with a more diverse and up-to-date range of human conversations, thereby improving AI understanding and user interaction.

On the other hand, Reddit will leverage OpenAI products to introduce new features for users and moderators, expanding engagement and community functionality.

“We are thrilled to partner with Reddit to enhance ChatGPT with uniquely timely and relevant information and to explore the possibilities to enrich the Reddit experience with AI-powered features,” said Brad Lightcap, OpenAI COO, in a blog post.

“Reddit has become one of the internet’s largest open archives of authentic, relevant, and always up to date human conversations about anything and everything. Including it in ChatGPT upholds our belief in a connected internet, helps people find more of what they’re looking for, and helps new audiences find community on Reddit,” said Steve Huffman, Reddit co-founder and CEO.

“Sam Altman is a shareholder in Reddit. This partnership was led by OpenAI’s COO and approved by its independent Board of Directors,” mentions the blog in italics.

Interestingly, OpenAI also said that it would become a Reddit advertising partner. The company is definitely building something bigger than search, giving tough competition to Google and Perplexity.

A few days back, OpenAI hired Shivakumar Venkataraman, a 21-year Google veteran who previously led the company’s search ads business, as its new vice president. Venkataraman’s extensive experience in search advertising at Google makes him a valuable asset for OpenAI as it plans to build ‘Google Search Alternative’.

Reactions So Far…

Users are already pouring in mixed reactions to this development.

https://twitter.com/doganuraldesign/status/1791206376800129164

It would also be interesting to see how the Reddit community is going to react in the coming days, or probably weeks, similar to what we witnessed after the Stack Overflow partnership with OpenAI. Give Reddit is often a great platform for a lot of users to digest news and information in real-time than most social media today.

Some believe that X (formerly Twitter) is the next best option. Elon Musk said that Grok will soon offer a humorous take on the news in the spirit of how ‘The Daily Show’ and ‘Colbert Report’ used to be in ancient times.

Google is Here to Stay

Google recently introduced ‘AI Overviews’ at Google I/O 2024. This feature generates summaries for the user’s queries.

“Sometimes you want a quick answer, but you don’t have time to piece together all the information you need. Search will do the work for you with AI Overviews,” said Liz Reid VP of Google Search.

Google Search is Powered by the Gemini model customised for Google Search, it combines Gemini’s advanced capabilities — including multi-step reasoning, planning, and multimodality — with best-in-class Search systems.

Perplexity is also upping its game. Against the backdrop of these developments, Perplexity onboarded three industry leaders as new advisors to boost search, mobile and distribution: Emil Michael (ex-Uber), Rich Miner (Android co-founder), and Mikhail Parakhin (ex-Bing CEO).

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